Will somebody please ring Chris Fearne and remind him about that 50,000-vote majority?

Some months ago, Chris Fearne – the Health Minister – spoke at a political meeting in his constituency and boasted that the Labour Party would have an even bigger vote majority in 2018 than it did in 2013. It would be 50,000 votes this time, he said.

Well, it’s 2017, Muscat has sabotaged Malta’s much-vaunted presidency of the EU Council of Ministers with a severely premature general election, and I’m sitting here wondering whether the perfectly dreadful Fearne still thinks his boast holds.

Let’s face it – if he did, he wouldn’t be begging door to door with bottles of wine with his face on the carton.

Meanwhile, he owes the electorate an explanation as to why Carmen Ciantar (who married Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando in 2012 and left him in 2013) has moved into his private secretariat, at his government office, for the duration of the campaign. Ms Ciantar is the CEO of the Foundation for Medical Sciences and Services, which pays her quite significant salary, so she should be in that office and not in his.

Health Minister Chris Fearne appointed Carmen Ciantar (right) CEO of the Foundation for Medical Sciences and Services. She has now moved into his private secretariat for the duration of the campaign. Ms Ciantar is seen here with Dana Farrugia, private secretary to the Economy Minister, Christian Cardona